Staten Islanders can hail cabs here starting in June

View full sizeStaten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelFelipe Howard of St George says there will be demand for taxi hails on Staten Island, especially on weekends.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Starting in June, you'll be able to hail a cab on Staten Island, if you can find one. The city Taxi and Limousine Commission this afternoon voted to approve 18,000 licenses that will legally allow liveries to pick up street hails in all five boroughs.

Those livery owners were opposed to the plan and unhappy with the vote, but the laws of supply and demand are at work: If they don't expand their business, someone else might swoop in.

And judging from interviews with Staten Islanders today, many here are willing to give it a try.

Although the rules go into effect May 19, the TLC expects to be selling the first licenses in early June. That's the earliest that street pickups can begin.

"Demand for taxis is high, especially on the weekends," explained Felipe E. Howard of St. George. Those partying at those times might find it easier to grab a cab and avoid driving while under the influence, he suggested.

Tom King of West Brighton also liked the idea, which includes uniformed fares and regulations mirroring those of yellow cabs that dominate Manhattan streets. "I think that's fine as long as the drivers are subject to the same regulations that TLC has for the yellow cabs," said . "As long as they're properly licensed and insured, fine, I don't think there's any problem at all."

But King said he doesn't think there's a big demand for it on Staten Island.

View full sizeStaten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelMichelle Chacko of Willowbrook is thrilled about the TLC vote. "I think it helps out everyone," she says.

Michelle Chacko of Willowbrook is thrilled about the idea. "I think
it helps out everyone," she said. "I think it's a good idea because those are like the certain areas that
you can't find (yellow cabs). She said she travels to Harlem often and is happy to hear that cabs will be allowed there, too. Currently, street hails are only permitted in Manhattan south of West 110th Street and and south of East 96th Street.

Former Grymes Hill resident Angela Strudwick was on a return trip the borough and was thrilled at the news: "In Manhattan you can always hail a cruising cab, and that's what makes it so easy to get around there if you don't what to take public transportation," Ms. Strudwick said. "I guess Staten Island must be updating a little."

David Vega of Mariners Harbor is all for the idea, and thinks it's a smart business move for the city. "They should have done that years ago, to put more money into the economy, especially the city's economy," Vega said. "I'm originally from the Bronx, and I would find it a lot more accessible if I was able to hail a cab from the Bronx instead of calling up a service."

The Advance has posted an unscientific poll on its website asking readers if they approve the TLC's move, to which 62 percent responded positively to the new rule.

Artie Grover, president of the Staten Island Fleet Livery Owners Association, has strongly opposed the rules from the start, insisting local livery owners would lose half of their business to "gypsy drivers," those unlicensed, uninsured cabbies siphoning off business at the borough's busiest locations.

Despite the TLC's pledge to add more field inspectors for enforcement and a $350 fine for first-time offenders picking up street hails without a license, Grover said they can't stop the illegal practice now and fears it'll get worse in the future.

Owners of Manhattan's yellow cabs have sued the TLC in an attempt to stop the law's implementation because they pay up to $1 million for medallions that have exclusively allowed them to pick up street hails for decades.

The Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, which represents about 4,000 yellow cab owners, called the plan unfair and fears it will "undermine" the owners' investment, the group's president said in a statement.

The TLC also announced this week that it will open up its Staten Island office on Richmond Terrace for visual inspections of livery cars. Those car owners previously had to travel to Queens once every two years for the inspection.